


Love Came In On Time

by japanken



Category: The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: Awkward Romance, Established Relationship, Eventual Romance, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Gay, Good Sibling Emira Blight, Happy Ending, Kissing, Not Canon Compliant, Oblivious Luz Noceda, Prom, Prom Night, Random & Short, Romantic Tension, Sad Ending, Slice of Life, Spoilers for Episode: s01e16 Enchanting Grom Fright
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-02
Updated: 2020-10-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:22:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 16,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26243356
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/japanken/pseuds/japanken
Summary: “Luz Noceda!” Luz says and it comes out more like a question. The whole crowd cheers. “Okay. I knew I shouldn’t have let you all vote.” She says dryly. Willow and Gus run up and dramatically lower another cheap plastic crown over her head.She pulls them in and whispers to them, which, Amity can hear, “Why did you guys put me up as one of the voting options?”“Because it was funny,” Gus giggles, whispering back. “We didn’t think you’d actually win!”“The whole school knows that Amity has a crush on you. It was the perfect setup. Hexside agrees,” Willow snickers.“What? No she doesn’t-,” Luz squeaks when Gus pushes her toward the prom king chair.“Your prom queen is waiting for you!” He laughed behind her.Luz sits down in a huff but immediately starts laughing. “Willow and Gus, am I right?”“Haha, Yep,” Amity utters, she hopes it came out as English. She doesn’t really know if she said anything at all.Luz stands up then, her arms open wide and an expectant look on her face. “Well? Shall we?”Or,Grom night didn’t go quite as Amity planned.
Relationships: Amity Blight/Luz Noceda
Comments: 50
Kudos: 562





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ✨Welcome to my very first TOH fanfiction! It’s not bad but I’m definitely embarrassed by it. I don’t even dare reading through it now, not when I’ve come so far. 
> 
> ⚠️I’ll keep it so I never forget where I came from. Just so we’re clear I hate this fic. And look at those monster stats, I can’t just flush 500+ kudos down the drain like that! 
> 
> ✅I highly recommend you go to my page and check out my other TOH fics, I’ve got a few fan favorites. Thank you and enjoy!

“Miss Blight, may I?” Luz asked, doing a quick curtsy. Amity couldn’t possibly have prepared herself for this moment, no matter how much she’s fantasized about it. She glances over her shoulder and finds Willow and Gus snickering behind the chocolate fountain, watching the scene unfold intently. She has to physically stop herself from giving them a certain rude gesture. Amity’s vaguely aware of the soft ukulele song echoing throughout the gymnasium. 

Her eyes slip back down to Luz’s hand. It’s turned so her palm is right side up and it’s extended out and then-  _ ding _ ! Amity realizes that she’s  _ offering  _ it to her. Amity blinks, looking down at it, flabbergasted. There’s two things she can do here. She could reject it and cry herself to sleep tonight. Or she could accept it and be face to face with this insanely cute girl who came to  _ her _ school. 

Amity blinks again and she realizes that ten minutes must have passed. Not really, more like ten seconds. Still an uncomfortably long time. She takes the plunge and slips her hand into Luz’s before she thinks too much about the situation and runs away. Immediately, an electric current shoots up her arm and over to her chest, eliciting a soft gasp from the green haired witch. Luz visibly deflates. Amity’s a little shocked to see such a reaction from such a confident person. Looks like she’s not the only one who’s afraid of rejection. 

Luz pulls her in, flush against her chest. Legs against legs. Their hips pressed together like it’s not a big deal. Her arms slip around her waist and Amity keeps hers on her shoulders. Her heart’s racing and she feels dizzy so she lets her head drop in the little space under Luz’s chin and she fits there like a missing piece from the puzzle. She wants  _ so  _ badly to press a kiss there but she doesn’t. But it would feel so perfect. 

  
  
  


“ _ Dios mio,  _ Amity, I thought you were gonna reject me in front of the whole school,” Luz breathes close to her ear. She’s laughing but for some reason it makes Amity feel queasy. Amity lifts her head because- crap. They are being watched. All eyes are on them. Of course they are, she’s Amity Blight. But everyone’s watching and somehow it feels different tonight. She’s vulnerable and practically at the mercy of Luz Noceda. There’s nothing she wouldn’t do to hear that giggle, see that gut wrenching grin and know that she caused it. Amity feels Luz rest her head on top of hers and she melts under it. 

They dance the night away at grom, they dance with Willow and Gus. Boscha glares at them. Ed and Em drink too much punch. Principal Bump ends up in the middle of a dance circle somehow. But Luz and Amity always end up back together in each other’s arms, like there’s this unspoken agreement that they can’t get enough of each other, they must always touch: Luz’s arm around Amity’s neck as she chats with another student, a hand on her back, Amity’s feeling bold and perhaps it’s all the punch she had or the anonymity of the dark gymnasium but she stands behind her and holds her arms around her waist, head on her shoulder. Or she’ll discreetly intertwine their hands together after regrouping from the dance floor.

And maybe there was a line but it’d been long crossed. They’re dancing again and Amity feels different and  _ amazing.  _ It’s the swelling music and the disco lights and the glint in her eyes that pushes her over the edge and she does it. Her hand slips up the side of her face, and before Luz can even realize what’s happening, Amity is kissing her. It’s soft and short and sweet but it feels like an eternity when they’re staring at each other, wide eyed. 

“I’ve never kissed anybody before,” is all Luz says after. 

“I’m so sorry-“ Amity stammers and before she can get in over her head, Luz stops her with another kiss. It’s somehow softer this time and Luz is leaning up against her and she’s holding her hand gently and it’s all Amity could have  _ ever  _ hoped for. For a moment, nothing matters. Not Hexside, not Willow or Gus or Boscha. Not grom, not how her head was spinning so fast she almost couldn’t breathe. Somehow, everything’s perfect. Somehow, they just clicked. 

Or, that’s what  _ would’ve  _ happened if today had gone as planned. 

When Amity woke up, that same tropical ukulele serenade was playing in her head. It was weird because it had the exact opposite effect on her as it did in her little fantasy. What’s more, she never woke up in this sort of mood. Heart pounding but at the same time, serene and at ease. Maybe it was because of Luz. 

_ Wow.  _

Sometimes, she surprises herself. 

She knew she was grom queen. But there was something so embarrassing about that being announced to the whole school- especially when the whole school had its eyes on her already. Especially when Luz was right in front of her. 

And, Luz said something to her but she might’ve blacked out. Maybe she ran away? Does Luz really have no idea?  _ She’s messing with me _ , Amity thinks. Today has just begun and it’s already not going according to plan. 

The plan  _ was  _ to give her the note and she was supposed to say yes. The thing is, Amity’s almost 99.9% sure Luz will say yes. But there’s that 1% that she’ll say no. Luz would hold up her end of the deal, so all Amity had to do was hold up  _ hers. The deal?,  _ Amity catches herself thinking, as if this is some kind of obligation. Like Luz would expect a reward for being nice to Amity for a couple of hours.

Then somehow, she ends up at Luz’s house, helping her face her fears because Luz wanted to be the grom queen, apparently. 

Luz faces her fears but Amity  _ literally  _ faces her fears. It’s more like a materialized version of her fears- and yes- it’s Luz. At least her fears don’t completely out her in front of the entirety of Hexside and- not to mention, Luz. Looks like her fears are also a coward. 

When did her greatest fear become a human? Why was this human being so persistent with her? What was this human doing to her? At first Luz kept ruining her life and now she’s- ruining her life (still). 

“You were afraid of being rejected,” Luz points out the painfully obvious and Amity almost wants her to know- almost wants her to ask. But this is one thing she  _ isn’t  _ persistent with. That’s frustrating. 

She almost wishes she opened the note earlier.

Today is full of somehow. Somehow, it hadn’t gone as planned and somehow she ended up in the forest somewhere with Luz after grom. She’s still in that stupid outfit (of course she is, Amity) and it’s really distracting. She hates the way she looks in that tux- hates the way she has her hair because it’s making her chest ache with some foreign feeling. 

“I guess…” Amity inhaled sharply, gazing up wistfully at the inky black sky. She couldn’t look at Luz. “I thought… for some reason that I'd have fun at grom this year.” 

“Why wouldn’t you?” 

“I dunno. I just thought since someone else was fighting grom, I’d be able to enjoy myself. But that was selfish of me.” 

Luz’s mouth opens, like she’s going to say something, then it closes. Amity’s acutely aware, of the fact that she wants to put her mouth on that mouth. 

She surprises herself sometimes. 

“Can I be honest?” 

“I’ve seen the manifestation of your worst fear just a few hours ago. Sure.” 

Luz laughs quietly at that, putting her face in her hands. “Gosh. I’m sorry. That was weird.” 

“Mine was weirder.” 

Luz gives her this look but Amity couldn’t tell what she was thinking. Then she gets up and flops down onto the soft grass, her gaze empty. 

“What  _ is  _ your worst fear, Amity?” She asks and Amity’s breath gets caught in her throat. 

This was the perfect moment for her to tell Luz the truth except, it was also the worst moment to tell Luz and she literally should keep her mouth shut before she loses this- whatever  _ this  _ is. 

So, Amity gently slides down on the grass right next to Luz. She keeps quiet for a moment because this would be a perfect night if she  _ didn’t  _ tell Luz about how her mind turns to static when she looks at her and how she hugs her pillow close every night pretending that it’s her. She shouldn’t tell Luz the truth for a lot of reasons. 

For Luz and for Amity. To ruin whatever they had here and now, this night a perfect moment in a romance novel. For her future career as a witch in the emperor’s coven. This fragile thing between them, like a bubble; it’d pop if she told her the truth. It was confusing and frustrating and lovely and  _ theirs.  _

She shouldn’t ruin this. She couldn’t ruin this. 

“Can  _ I  _ be honest?” Amity sighs, closing her eyes. 

“That’s what friends are. They’re honest.” 

_ Ouch _ . It stings now more than ever. She couldn’t help the groan from deep inside. It’s almost funny, how oblivious she is.

“Right. About that, actually.” Amity paused because this was it. She needed to remember this moment, like a painting. She looked at Luz to remember her there, sprawled out on the grass beside her, in case she walked away. She needed to remember the warmth of her. The gentle breeze ticking her skin. 

“Tell me if this is weird,” Amity sat up. One last glance around. How was she supposed to focus when - 

“HEY! There you are, Luz!” A bush said. It rustled and then King emerged from the leaves. “Me and Eda were looking all over for you!” He said and as if on cue, the owl lady dropped down from her broom. King scuffled over to Luz’s lap, but not before tripping over a log and getting back up. 

“Did we… walk in on something?” Eda seemed to have taken note of Amity’s red face. 

“No, not at all.” Luz said, standing up with King on her head. 

“They must’ve been preparing for some demon summoning rituals, I’d do better anyway. Luz probably couldn’t complete the spell by herself,” King babbled in that condescending tone of his.

“Erm, I’ll see you at school tomorrow, ‘kay, Ami?” 

“Yep. See you at school.” She fell back in the grass, an arm over her teary eyes. Luz hadn’t noticed, of course. She didn’t get the hint. 

Amity laid there for a while after that, all by herself in the moonlight, somewhere in the forest. She got here, somehow. Crying in her grom dress, love came in right on time to break her heart and ruin her life. It’s funny how that moment, so fragile, had popped, just like a bubble, Luz was gone. 

Today didn’t go as planned.

  
  
  



	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luz tried to make Grom up to Amity but in the end, it doesn’t go well.

A couple of weeks had passed but Amity hadn’t stopped thinking about that night. How it was supposed to happen, the way it didn’t and the way it ended up. It’s fine if she didn’t get to tell Luz how she felt, maybe it was better that way. Maybe it was better she didn’t say anything and just watch her from afar. She still saw Luz in class and at lunch, of course she did because Luz came to this school now. She had to keep reminding herself of that. 

Coming from abomination period, Amity was at her locker switching out books for the next period. She pulled out one particularly heavy book that took her breath away every time she lifted it- and there it was, fluttering to the ground like a leaf. Her heart jumped. Had Luz found the letter? How did it get back here? 

With shaky hands, she reached down to grab it and she quickly opened it. She’s never felt more relief in her life than in that moment. It wasn’t  _ the _ letter, but immediately she identified the handwriting that belonged to Luz. Not that she ever paid any attention to her handwriting or anything. That’d be weird. 

_ Come to the gym tonight @10, don’t be late! P.S wear something nice :)  _

First things first, of course she would go because, well. She couldn’t leave Luz hanging, and it’s not like she had anything else better to do anyways. Well, maybe she did. Actually, there were a lot of things she could be doing: practicing spells, studying for her upcoming test, make sure Ed and Em don’t get into anything crazy. 

There’s something so comforting about knowing she could  _ not  _ show up and brush it off like she didn’t see the letter. But maybe, just maybe, this was her chance. 

A little later at lunch, Amity was sitting by herself just like she always did. She was in limbo with the whole friend thing. Willow didn’t hate her (at least she hoped not,) She doesn’t really know Gus that well, Boscha and Luz were out of the question and she never took the time to get to know anyone else because as it turns out, friendships are exhausting. 

Well, she  _ was  _ sitting alone until Luz slid onto the bench beside her. Immediately, her face flared up in red flames and unfortunately, Luz hadn’t failed to notice. 

“Is everything okay, Amity?” 

“Yes! I’m fine,” she replies without missing a single beat. 

Luz narrows her eyes, “Okay then…” 

Gosh, she’s already messed it up. “Er… so, what’s up?” 

Luz smiles then, and Amity finally starts to breathe again because everything’s back to normal. “Oh, nothing. Just another normal day at Hexside, y’know?” 

Amity doesn’t know what to say because she’s  _ beaming  _ at her. “Yeah, totally!” She laughs awkwardly. 

“I’m just so happy to be here, learning magic and meeting so many cool people- er- witches,” she takes a big bite of her sandwich and continues, “I just feel like I was  _ meant  _ to be here.” 

There’s a significant pause while Amity looks up at the human, so full of giddiness over something so mundane for her. It brings a wave of appreciation over her as she realizes exactly how special Hexside actually is. She feels so proud to be here, she thinks about digging up her old school spirit tee shirt somewhere in her closet at home. 

There’s still a glint in her eyes but she’s stopped chewing and is staring back at Amity. Crap, what kind of hole did she dig up for herself this time? Amity clears her throat, tucking a nonexistent strand of hair away. 

“That’s...that’s great, Luz.” She turns away and resorts to poking at her own sandwich on her tray.

Luz giggles then and, thank the stars, changes the subject. “So, did you get the letter?” 

Amity blinks because she’s completely forgotten about that. Luz is staring at her expectantly.

“Um- yeah! I got it,” she stammers. “I’ll come.” 

“Great! It’s gonna be so fun, I can  _ not  _ wait. Me and Willow and Gus worked on it for a whole week just to surprise you! We had to convince Principal Bump to let us use the gym after hours, we stayed up late making decorations,” she ticked off their trials and tribulations on her fingers, suddenly stopping short. “Oops, I almost ruined the surprise,” 

“ _ Wow, _ ” was all Amity could say. Little did Luz know, she was having a stroke being overcome with appreciation and love for them all over again. 

Then, Willow and Gus and another student she’s seen around the halls but never talked to slide into the bench directly in front of them, setting their trays down. Luz is no longer just for her. She’s on fire again, greeting her friends with open arms.  _ She’s so perfect.  _

The rest of the day goes by at a gentle pace, not too many Luz encounters, no one’s staring at her or whispering about her or making silent judgments. At least she hopes so. She’s at home getting ready when Ed and Em walk in her room. They do not waste a single second to start making fun of her. 

“Ooh, Mitten’s first date!” Edric cackles. 

“It’s not a date! I’m just meeting some friends for an after school...program...thing.” Amity says, sealing her fate. 

“After school program?” Emira raises her eyebrows to the universe’s orbit, trying not to laugh. “Why is this ‘after school program’ past your bedtime? And why does it require fancy clothes, huh?” 

“It’s not past my bedtime. Is it?” Amity glances at the clock, just to be sure. “Wait! I don’t even have a bedtime!” 

The twins burst into a fit of laughter, Ed leaning on Em for support. 

“I bet the human’s gonna be there,” Ed says in between laughs, wiping a tear from his eye. 

“No, for your information, she won’t. It’s just gonna be Boscha and Skara, you know, my girls.” Amity tries to sound nonchalant, looking on her vanity for a hair clip. 

“I thought you weren’t friends with them anymore,” Em points out. 

“We made up.” Amity groans. “Now get out of my room. Out!” 

“Or what?” Ed smiles, crossing his arms. In a blur of motions, Amity has chucked a shoe in their direction and they both skittered out like scared cats. 

She’s close to school now, it was just a short walk from her house. Immediately, she sees colorful lights from the gym and hears the bass of loud music.  _ Goodness, what has Luz done this time?  _ Amity reminds herself that it’s not too late to turn around and go home, pretend this never happened.

When she walks in, it’s a sight to behold. Everyone’s there, just like on Grom night. It’s almost traumatic to Amity. How did she ever pull this off? There’s a banner hanging across the top of the stage that says ‘Hexside’s First Prom’. On the stage, there’s two chairs with ‘Prom Queen’ and ‘Prom King’ written on them respectively. 

“Hey! You made it!” Luz has found Amity standing alone at the door, pulling her from her reel. 

Amity could say,  _ wow _ , or  _ thanks _ , or really anything in the whole world but instead she says, “You spelled ‘Grom’ wrong,” 

“Huh?” Luz turns toward the stage, knowing right away what Amity’s talking about. “Oh, no, that was on purpose,” she giggles. “Back in the human world, where I used to go to school, we do something called ‘prom’. It’s very similar to Grom, except, … eh,” 

“Except, it’s normal.” Amity finishes for her. 

“Exactly,” Luz snaps her fingers, smiling. “I just thought I’d show Hexside what it’s like to have a good time without having to worry about a big old monster, you know?”

“Yeah. Wow, thank you, Luz. You did all this?” Amity asks, trying to stop herself from falling even more in love. 

“With the help of Willow and Gus, of course.” She smiled, giving the two and cue and they made their way over. Amity has a feeling that cue was pre-discussed, that makes her feel a little guilty. 

“Heyyy, Amity,” Gus says, sounding unsure. 

“We didn’t know if you’d hate this and run away,” Willow says, point blank. 

Amity has to laugh at that. 

“Nah, don’t worry guys. She likes it,” she turns to Amity again. “Wait… you do like it, right?” 

“I… I love it, guys. Wow.” Amity stammers, she feels herself breaking out into a cold sweat despite the perfectly normal temperature. 

“Great! Come on!” Luz grabs her hand and pulls her toward the stage. Amity gasps, trying to keep up as the human dragged her along. It’s almost got a weird resemblance to one of those moments in her fantasies. They stop in the middle of the floor, in a little clump of students. 

“You’re already chosen for prom queen,” Luz explains, gesturing towards the little foldable chair up on the stage. “Prom king will be chosen at random. I would’ve invited your crush had I known who it was.” 

_ Oh, Luz. If only you knew.  _ Amity has to bite her tongue to keep from saying anything she might regret. “Then prom king and queen will have the first dance,” Luz said. 

Next destination was the refreshments table. There was a big glass bowl of red punch, plastic cups and plates, the usual stuff. 

“I invited as many people as I could, trying to keep it private and all,” Luz said, pouring herself some punch. “Who knows, maybe he is here.” She paused. “Want some?” 

“Sure,” Amity accepted the red solo cup, taking a sip. She had to stop herself from spitting it out. It was way too sweet and also somehow bitter at the same time. Forcing it down her throat, cheerfully she asked, “Who made this punch?” 

“Me, why?” Luz has a suspicious grin on her face. For some reason, the punch being terrible was so endearing.

“Nothing- it’s, it's great. I’ve never had punch before.”

The night went on smoothly and honestly, amazing. Amity was so glad she came. She talked with Willow and even Boscha for a little bit- and it turns out that Gus is really funny.

Willow has a line going on in the back of the gym for corsages, she makes them with her plant magic. Amity can’t help the small smile it gives her because it’s really adorable to watch the students watch Willow with bright eyes. She’s really gotten good at plant magic. No wonder she wasn’t ever any good in the abomination track, it wasn’t meant for her. 

Luz makes her way onto the stage, mic in hand. She taps it then wipes it off on her dress. “Hello, Hexside!” She says but the microphone wasn’t on. She glances at Gus who’s at the speakers- he shoots her a thumbs up and this time it works. 

“Hello, Hexside!” She roars, beaming. “Is everyone having a great time at Hexside’s first ever  _ prom?!”  _

It’s a sad little thing because there aren’t that many people here, but everyone screams back at Luz up on the stage. 

“Alright, alright, alright!” She hums when Willow comes up and whispers in her ear. “Oh, right!” She gasps with the sudden realization. “It’s time to announce this year’s prom king and queen!” 

Amity’s stomach twists then, remembering what Luz said about her being the prom queen. 

She pulls an envelope out of nowhere and rips it open. She pulls out one card, then gasps. Amity laughs because she’s a terrible actor. 

“Give it up for Miss Amity Blight, your prom queen!” She whoops and cheers and so does the crowd. “Come on up here, queen!” She points to Amity in the crowd. 

_ Crap.  _ Amity really doesn’t want to go up there, in front of everyone, for everyone to see her red face. She could hide it down here in the darkness but up there, it’s so bright. 

Either way, she makes her way up to the stage and stands next to Luz. She places a small plastic crown on her head, pushing it a little to the right and smiling when it’s in the perfect spot. 

“Would you like to say a few words, miss Blight?” Luz asks, doing her best impression of a posh English accent. 

_ She really doesn’t. _ “Of course,” she says, taking the microphone, holding it close. “Um…” she’s quiet for a long time because- how did she get up here, in this moment, next to Luz who’s staring at her with the biggest smile on her face, in front of Hexside? 

“Thank you Hexside. And thank you Luz, for showing us your wonderful rendition of Grom.” She smiles. 

Everyone cheers and whoops and claps for Amity. She feels like she’s floating. Handing the mic back to Luz, she continues her spiel.

“Yes, very few words indeed. Give it up for Amity one more time!” She gestures toward the green haired witch. 

Afterwards, Amity takes a seat in the prom queen chair, dusting off her skirt.  _ Play it cool _ . 

“And now for your prom king! He’s bright, he’s brilliant, he’s,” 

Amity hopes and wishes and prays and she really really hopes it isn’t- 

“Luz Noceda!” Luz says and it comes out more like a question. The whole crowd cheers. “Okay. I knew I shouldn’t have let you all vote.” She says dryly. Willow and Gus run up and dramatically lower another cheap plastic crown on her head. 

She pulls them in and whispers to them, which, Amity can hear, “Why did you guys put me up as one of the voting options?” 

“Because it was funny,” Gus giggles, whispering back. “We didn’t think you’d actually win!” 

“The whole school knows that Amity has a crush on you. It was the perfect setup. Hexside agrees,” Willow snickers. 

“What? No she doesn’t-“ Luz squeaks when Gus pushes her toward the prom king chair. 

“Your prom queen is waiting for you!” He laughed behind her.

Luz sits down in a huff but immediately starts laughing. “Willow and Gus, am I right?” 

“Haha, Yep,” Amity utters, she hopes it came out as English. She doesn’t really know if she said anything at all. 

Luz stands up then, her arms open wide and an expectant look on her face. “Well? Shall we?” 

“R-right here? Right now?” Amity squeals. 

Luz glances behind her at Willow and Gus (and probably everyone else) who are sporting their  _ I told you so  _ faces. 

“Let’s go down to the dance floor,” she says, taking Amity’s hand and leading her off the stage. 

The music is loud and bumping again and everyone’s back to dancing but Amity doesn’t return to normal. She’s not normal. She’s broken. Luz is holding her hand still and she can probably feel her shaking nervously because she asks, “Is everything okay? You don’t have to dance with me if you don’t want,” 

“No, no. I want to.”  _ She really doesn’t want to _ . She gets closer and puts her hands on Luz’s shoulders. Why is this kind of like her weird fantasy a couple weeks ago? They start dancing and she lets Luz step on her foot just to make sure she isn’t dreaming again. 

“Sorry!” Luz looks terrified, like Amity might turn her into a frog or something. 

“It’s okay! I’m- I’m not a very good dancer.” 

“Sure you are,” Luz smiles. “Remember our dance on Grom night a little while ago?” 

_ Yes, I do remember the most romantic moment of my life, Luz. I don’t want to think about it right now or I’ll die of embarrassment.  _ “Yeah,” she laughs an easy laugh. 

“That was… something.” Luz laughs awkwardly. “I uh, I like your dress.” 

“Me? Uh, thanks!” Amity’s blushing again. “It isn’t really anything that special,” 

“ _ Ay, ay,  _ Amity. You’re so hard on yourself.” Luz says but Amity isn’t really listening anymore. She can’t. She’s wondering if she should try to kiss her, like in her fantasy. Would it even go how she hopes it would? 

She’s mulling over the odds when Luz asks, “Ed and Em give you a hard time coming here?” 

Amity blinks. “Yes, actually. Why?” 

Luz turns her around and there they are, her two crap siblings standing there watching her with smug grins on their faces.  _ Crap _ . 

“Heyyy, Mittens,” Edric waves at her slowly. 

Amity is frozen for a moment. “What are you two even doing here?” 

“We followed you here to see if you were telling the truth. You lied to us, Mittens! You shouldn’t lie.” Emira laughs, coming closer to Luz and Amity. “The human  _ is  _ here!” 

“Hey guys! My name is Luz, by the way,” she says, scratching the back of her neck. 

Luz watches the three bicker and then Ed and Em float off to the refreshments table. Ed drinks some punch and immediately spits it out, choking. 

Luz and Amity are sitting down by the lockers right outside the gym, Amity had to take off her shoes for a little while to give her poor feet a break. 

“Thank you for this, Luz,” Amity said quietly, idly rubbing her sore foot. 

“No problem, anything for a friend.” There it was. “I never had any close friends like this before…” 

“Really?” 

“Why’s that so hard to believe?” Luz laughs. 

“I just… you’re just so great. You’re funny and pretty and stupid. I assumed you had a lot of friends. She glances up at her and Luz has this terrified look on her face. 

“Oh gosh. What’d I say…?” She puts her face in her hands, groaning. 

Luz laughs. “I guess Willow and Gus  _ were _ onto something,”

“What?” Amity stammers because this is probably it. Nothing gets past Willow’s radar. 

“They told me something funny. They said, uh… they said you have a crush on me.” 

“Whaaat?” Amity’s heart exploded. She wishes it would just explode already so she can die and not have to deal with this. 

“It-it’s okay if you do!” She said, holding up her hands defensively. “I don’t mind!” 

“Well. Trust me, I don’t.” Amity lies through her teeth, sounding even more bitter than she anticipated. 

Luz raises her eyebrows. “Okay.” She says slowly. “That’s fine too.” 

Amity puts her shoes back on and stands up abruptly. “I uh. I need to go. My parents will be upset if I’m out any later…” she turns back one last time. “Thank you, again.” 

Before Luz can answer, Amity’s already walking away. And when she’s past the lockers, she starts running, wiping tears from her eyes. She hears Luz calling after her. 

Why do nights like these always start out  _ so  _ perfect but end  _ so  _ wrong? 

  
  
  



	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Amity and Luz make up.

At lunch, the lines were longer for some reason- longer than they usually were. Most of the witches brought their own lunches because the lunches provided at Hexside were… subpar, to say the least. Amity remembers Luz telling her that human school lunches weren’t much different. 

But Amity was in line and up ahead she saw Luz with her head down and her hoodie up. There was no Willow or Gus with her. When her turn came around, she tried to play it cool because she could feel Luz watching her. 

“Amity,” all of the sudden, Luz was beside her. 

“Luz, not now.” Amity said, trying to stay calm. She slid her tray over more and then Luz grabbed her hand. “What are you doing!?” 

At this point, everyone was staring. “Amity, I need to talk to you.” Luz got a tight hold on her wrist and began to pull her away, leaving the lunch line and into the halls. Amity has never seen her like  _ this _ . She almost seemed mad. Maybe not mad, but stern. Amity stayed as far away as possible, as much as her arm would let her. She stared down at their hands like it was a bomb ticking off its last seconds. 

They arrived to the bathrooms and Luz pulled her in. There was no one around which was a relief but also kind of terrifying. Luz shut the door and immediately lost all her composure. “What did I do wrong?” She begged. 

“I…” 

“I thought we were good. But you’ve been ignoring me for days and I’m trying to figure out if I did something! Is it because of what I said? Did I hurt your feelings?” 

“Luz, no. You didn’t do anything. I’m just a coward,” Amity said, trying to hold back tears. If she said another word, she was going to start crying. But Luz deserved to know the truth. “You were right.” 

“About what?” Luz sounds like she’s going to cry too. 

“About what Willow told you. She was right, I was a coward and I ran away and I lied and I hurt your feelings and I’m really, really sorry!” 

“About… you liking me?” Luz asked quietly. 

“Yes! I’ve been trying to hide it but I thought you knew! I thought I was being so obvious.” Amity wipes a tear from her eye, sliding down the wall and onto the floor. The disgusting bathroom floor. She didn’t care. Her legs were Jell-O right now. 

Luz looks confused and blank like she doesn’t know what to say. It’s quiet as she goes over to a sink and rests her arms on it. “Serious?” 

Amity nods feverishly, like she’s been waiting to answer this question her whole life but she suddenly doesn’t have the words. “I was going to tell you… but I needed more time.” She says, her voice just barely above a whisper. 

“I’m sorry,” Luz laughs quietly. “Sorry I’m so stupid. Sorry I never noticed.” She looks embarrassed now, avoiding eye contact. Just then someone comes in the door. It’s Viney. She pauses and glances at Amity on the floor and Luz by the sink. 

“Uh. Sorry.” She slips past them and into a stall. 

Amity laughs, letting her head fall back against the wall. “This was  _ not  _ how I wanted to tell you.” 

Luz is resting her head on her hand, looking down at Amity. “It’s not the most  _ romantic  _ thing ever.” Then she walks over to her and offers her hand. Amity takes it and stands back up, stumbling against the wall when Luz pulls her into a hug. “I’m proud of you.” 

“Thanks,” she blushes, resting her head on her shoulder. “And, I’m sorry for ignoring you. I don’t know any other way to deal with this sort of thing.” 

“I forgive you.” Is all Luz says and then, Viney slips awkwardly past them again to leave the bathroom. “We should probably get out of here.”

“Good idea.”

As they walk back, Luz holds her hand again but this time, their fingers are intertwined and it’s gentle. Amity’s heart is doing something complicated in her chest. In the back of her mind, she’s vaguely disappointed because she thought saying it, telling her was going to relieve the stomach aches, break the tension. But now it’s even worse because she doesn’t know if Luz feels the same. She’s about to ask her about it but she bites her lip in protest. 

They go back through the lunch line for Amity, and still holding her hand, she pulls her over to the table where Willow and Gus are seated. “Hey guys! Amity’s sitting with us today.” She smiles at her. Willow stares back at Amity with a knowing look. 

“So, you finally figured it out?” She asks Luz, Gus kicking her under the table. 

“ _ Willow!”  _ He hisses.

“Let’s not talk about it right now,” Luz hurriedly waves it off. 

They sit close together, legs touching and under the table, they still hold hands. 

After school lets out, Amity and Luz are sitting on the steps as the students pour past them, eager to get home. 

“So…” Amity takes the plunge. “Does this mean we’re…  _ together?” _

Luz pauses then she laughs. “If you want to,” 

“Wait. We don’t have to. I mean- you probably don’t even like me.” 

“I do like you.” She slips their hands together. 

“So,” Amity bites her tongue. “You like girls?”

“Mhm. I’ve never told anyone this but I’m actually bi.” Luz says, resting her head on Amity’s shoulder. 

“Bi?” Amity tilts her head in confusion. 

“Yeah, it just means I like girls  _ and  _ boys.” 

“Oh.  _ Oh.”  _

Luz giggles. “So do you wanna be my girlfriend?”

“Yes. Please.  _ Yes. _ I mean, if you want,” Amity stammers. Luz laughs and gives her a quick kiss on the cheek. Immediately, the group of students standing by start whooping and cheering and howling. 

“You finally figured it out, huh Luz?” A kid calls from the crowd. Luz stares back at them, confused. 

“Take a hike!” Amity yells at them and they all skitter off, laughing and cheering still. 

“I guess it  _ was  _ pretty obvious if even  _ they  _ noticed,” Luz said sheepishly. “I’m sorry, Amity.” 

“Don’t worry about it,” Amity says, still blushing. 

“Come on, I’ll walk you to my house and we can hangout,” Luz suggests. 

“I can’t, sorry. I need to study for a test.” Amity lies.  _ I need to be alone after all this.  _

“Well, let me walk you home?” 

“Eh… it’s alright. Thanks though. I’ll be fine!” Amity is already walking away when Luz stops her.

“Amity, wait!” She catches up to her and grabs her hand. She gives her another quick peck on the cheek and says, “I love you,” 

“ _ Wow,  _ um. I love you too. I uh, I’ll see you later!” Amity, delirious and burnt out, starts running away. 

“ _ Adios!”  _

* * *

It’s late at night when Amity gets the idea. Earlier today was really embarrassing and  _ not  _ how she planned it to happen  _ at all _ . So, she snuck out of the house and headed to the owl house. She was going to do it right, this time. 

When she got there, she cast a light spell in front of Luz’s window spelling out ‘Hi’. Almost right away, Luz shoved the window open and saw Amity. “One sec!” She whisper screamed down to her. She quickly scuffled into her cat hoodie and shoes but it wasn’t fast enough. She tip-toed down the stairs, careful not to wake up Eda and King. When she walked out the door, Hooty did not miss a beat. 

“WHERE ARE  _ YOU  _ GOING THIS TIME OF NIGHT, HOOT HOOT?” He screamed. 

“ _Shh!_ _Don’t mention this to anybody! And don’t come to the side of the house for a little while, okay?”_ Luz whispered. 

“OKAY!” He smiled, curling his tube body around. 

Amity is just uncasting the spell when Luz comes around. 

“Hey,” Amity said, blushing. 

“Hey,” Luz smiled. 

“I’m sorry if I woke you up-“ 

“No, it’s okay! ...I couldn’t sleep anyways.” Luz gently intertwines their fingers together and it does something to Amity. 

“I just… I wanted to tell you the right way. So,” she takes her hands and holds her shoulders. “Luz Noceda. I like you. A lot.” 

“Wait, how do you know my last name?” She smirks. 

“I know lots of weird things about you. But that’s beside the point,” she waves it off with a sheepish smile. “The point is, I’m glad you’re... we’re...” 

“Me too,” Luz giggles, tilting Amity’s chin up and gently asks, “Can I kiss you?” 

Amity nods, because,  _ yes _ ,  _ please kiss me.  _ It wasn’t even a question. She’s thought about this moment for so long, it’s kind of funny. But she doesn’t know how to kiss and she doesn’t really know if she should pucker her lips or keep her lips normal or if she’s supposed to close her eyes after or before. 

Luz can clearly see the panic on her face and she laughs. “Relax. Close your eyes.” 

Amity obeys and a couple of seconds pass before Luz gives her a small kiss, just to test the waters. Then she gives her multiple pecks but pulls away completely each time, which is kind of frustrating. Then all of the sudden she starts to kiss her slow and steady, without breaking it off. Amity almost stumbles back from the shock but Luz puts a firm hand on her shoulder. 

They kiss for a little longer then in a matter of seconds, Luz is kissing her jaw, then little kisses down her neck. Amity is just thinking,  _ wow, okay _ ,  _ this is happening. She’s definitely done this before.  _ She’s getting so worked up over it that she makes a little sound and Luz pauses. “Oh- sorry. Want me to stop?” 

_ Yes, please stop because I’m going to pass out. _ She’s in denial because it feels so good and she doesn’t really want to stop but she needs to. She gently pushes Luz off and they’re face to face again. “Sorry. Did I go too far?” 

“No...it’s just, that was my first kiss.” She has to remind herself to breathe. There’s no way this is actually happening. She waits because she really wants to know if she’s done this before. “What about you?”

“Oh- uh,” Luz is embarrassed all of the sudden. “I’ve kissed like two people back in the human world, that’s all.”

_ She will find those people and kill them.  _ “Oh,” she blinks. “Okay.” 

Luz pulls her into a tight hug, her heart beats fast against her chest. It’s hard for her to breathe all of the sudden.

Shortly after, Amity leaves because it’s a school night and Luz goes to head back inside. 

“I SAW  _ EVERYTHING. OH THE HORROR, HOOT HOOT!”  _ Hooty laughs very loudly.

“Not. A. Word.” Luz said sternly. 

  
  


* * *

The next morning, Luz and King are at the table while Eda makes something resembling breakfast when Hooty bursts open the door and twists his wonderfully tubular body inside the house. “GUESS WHAT I SAW LAST NIGHT, HOOT HOOT!” 

“Literally no one cares,” Eda and King say in unison. 

“OH BUT YES YOU DO. ESPECIALLY LUZ!”

It was at that moment when Luz knew. She gave Hooty the coldest glare but he pretended not to notice. “LUZ AND AMITY, SITTIN’ IN A TREE. K-I-S-S-I-N-G!” He sang, his ear piercing voice excruciatingly loud. Afterward, he immediately went back to his post on the door because he knew he had it coming. 

It was excruciatingly silent for a long moment. 

“Well, you finally figured it out, huh, kid?” Eda asked, smiling to herself. 

“Why does  _ everyone  _ keep saying that to me?” She slips off her chair and onto the floor, curling up into a little Luz ball. “ _ Wait!  _ You knew?!” 

“Luz, practically the entire Boiling Isles knew at this point. The only person who didn’t was you.” She said. 

“I know.” Luz whined. 

“So what's the problem then?” asked King. 

“The  _ problem _ is that I’ve never done this before! I’ve never been anyone’s girlfriend. She likes me so much and I like her too but I have no idea what I’m doing!” Luz groans from the floor. 

“Eh, I wouldn’t worry about it too much. You’re young, just have fun with it.” Eda pauses, stops stirring her pot, then ominously adds, “But don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” 

“Okay…” Luz says slowly because she’s so confused by that. Then she’s right back at her pity party, whining and groaning to herself. “ _ I’m so stupid!”  _

“Don’t worry, Luz, you’re not  _ completely  _ stupid. You’re good for  _ something _ , like head rubs and back scratches.” King says, ever the positive one. “I’m hungry, Eda! Hurry it up!” 

“Alright, alright. And you’re not helping, King.” Eda walks over and crouches down to the shuddering Luz ball and gently rubs her back. “It’ll be fine, kid. Now get up before you’re late to school.” 

“Yes, ma’am,” she groans, her face flat on the floor. 

As she walks out the door, Eda chuckles to herself, “What am I gonna do with this kid?” 


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Boscha bothers Willow, Amity and Luz be gay. Gus be single :(

Amity was having a problem. 

Well, she wasn’t  _ really  _ having a problem, she just likes to make things overly complicated for herself. But it’s not on purpose. Really, Amity’s already had the weight of the world on her shoulders, but now Luz is sitting prettily at the top. 

She usually walks to school with Luz, but every time, it’s a hassle. She’s cooking in her own sweat whenever Luz reaches for her hand. She likes it but it’s not practical by her nature because she can’t really focus when Luz is within a yards radius. She wants her here but she wishes she wouldn’t come near.

And it’s not like Luz is doing anything  _ particularly  _ distracting, it’s just that everything she does is distracting because of Amity’s persistent infatuation. It just won’t go away. She still gets butterflies when Luz shows up at her door in the mornings. Still gets light headed when they kiss. 

They’re standing at the lockers waiting for next period when Boscha walks by but stops short to stare at them. She puts a hand on her hip and glares condescendingly at Amity. “Don’t tell me, the human  _ finally _ got the hint. Right?” She cackles. Amity is mute all of the sudden and Luz is stammering and suddenly it’s a scene. “Don’t tell me you nerds are together!” 

“Knock it off, Boscha.” Willow chips in, not an inch of levity in her voice. Suddenly, Boscha is the one with the red face. 

“W-Willow! I’ve been looking for you all day-“

“I  _ don’t  _ wanna hear it, Boscha. Why don’t you get a life and stop picking on Luz and Amity?” 

Boscha stutters, slowly backing away. The crowd that’s formed around them goes, ‘ _ Oooh,’.  _

“Oh, shut up!” Boscha whirls around, adjusting her jacket over her shoulders. “I don’t want to talk to you anyway,” she says. It’s so unlike her as she quickly storms away, pushing past the crowd. 

The crowd quickly dissipates and Willow leans against the locker next to Luz and Amity, sighing. “Oooh!” Luz squeals. “I think Boscha  _ likes  _ you, Willow!” She pokes her cheek. 

Amity raises an eyebrow because- Willow and Boscha? They would  _ never  _ work. And how did Luz pick up on that so quickly and not when Amity thought she was being so obvious? “There’s no way. She’s… Boscha.” 

“I think it’s cute!” Luz chirps, turning to poke Amity’s cheek and she immediately turns red. 

“If you think Boscha likes me then you’re crazy.” Willow pulls Luz’s hand away from her face and points at her, accusingly. “Never say that again.” 

* * *

“Were you pretending not to know?” Amity asks Luz as they study on the floor at the coffee table. It’s the first time she’s at the owl house since,  _ well.  _ (She can’t even say it in her own head or she’ll melt) Eda is thrilled but she's trying to act all cool about it. She even made King stay upstairs, warning him not to bother them. 

“Know what?” Luz stops writing to look at Amity. But Amity’s a coward and she isn’t going to look her in the eyes so she looks back down at her paper instead and turns red. 

“Well. Um.” She clicked her pen nervously. “You noticed how Boscha acted about Willow earlier today, right?” 

“Yeah,” she giggles. “She’s got it bad for her, I just know it!” 

“Right,” Amity gives a stiff little laugh. “But you never noticed how I acted towards you, for so long, and,” she’s stammering now and Luz looks confused. 

“You think I pretended not to know that you had a thing for me?” Luz finally pieces it together, _thank goodness_ _but also it sounds so terrible the way she said it._ Amity nods sheepishly. 

Luz drops her pencil on the table and she looks down. “Maybe,-a little,” she says and Amity’s heart skips a beat. “I just didn’t know what to do. And I’m sorry.” 

“So you  _ did  _ know?” Amity asks but it’s more like a statement, she falls back and rests against the couch. 

“I had an idea,” she tries to say it teasingly to bring the mood back up. “I’ve never actually thought that much of it before and I didn’t know how to handle it _.” _

Amity stays quiet, so Luz falls back against the couch with her. “What about you?” She asks quietly. 

“I had a ‘boyfriend’ a couple years ago,” Amity groans, embarrassed. “I thought I was in love.” 

Luz laughs but doesn’t say anything. 

“Luz, don’t take this the wrong way, but I think I’m infatuated. With you.” Amity says suddenly. “I’m sorry if that’s weird. And if you hate me.”

“Wow.” Luz says after a moment. 

“I know you’re going to have to go back home one day. Soon, probably.” she sighs. 

“You’re  _ infatuated?”  _ Luz gawks, still stuck from two seconds ago. 

“We’ll, at least, I hope that’s all it is. I don’t mean it in a bad way. But we’re so young. I don’t  _ know _ what love is.” 

“You’re right.” 

Amity sits up then and she absent mindedly picks her pen back up, sighing. “So, what’re we gonna do? We can’t stay together. It was doomed from the start.”

“I wouldn’t worry about it too much,” she says nonchalantly, (directly quoting Eda) also sitting back up. She’s looking at Amity with a playfulness in her eyes. When Amity doesn’t look convinced, she says, “You worry too much,” leaning into her shoulder. 

Immediately, Amity stiffens up and turns a bright shade of red.

“Why do you always get so nervous when I touch you?” She asks gently. 

“ _ Because.”  _ She says stiffly. 

“Because what?” Luz laughs, scooting herself closer so she can kiss Amity’s ear. Then she kisses her cheek, then close to her eye, then her-

“W-we should get back to our essays,” Amity says, panicked. Luz doesn’t answer and instead pushes closer to kiss her lips. Amity falls back on the floor. 

“ _ Blight down, one point for Noceda,”  _ Luz giggles, doing her best football TV voice. 

“I will  _ hex  _ you,” Amity playfully kicks her shoulder. 

“But you won’t!” Luz gets a hold of Amity’s foot and pulls her closer, leaning over her to plant another kiss on her forehead. Amity’s giggling so hard and she finds herself breathless. She manages to put her foot down and they get back to studying. But she wishes she was still kissing her.

* * *

“Boscha asked me out.” Willow says dryly to Amity, Luz and Gus at lunch. 

“ _ What?!”  _ The three of them chorus. 

“I know, right?” She groans, sounding disgusted. She removes her glasses and rubs her eyes. “I just  _ don’t  _ understand. Just a few months ago, we were worst enemies and she hated my  _ guts.  _ And now she  _ likes  _ me?” 

“Willow.” Luz squeaks, barely able to contain herself. “This is  _ great!  _ Do. You. Know. What. This. Means?” 

“That I’m going to vomit?” Willow deadpans. 

“ _ No.  _ This means that we can all go on a  _ double date!” _ She squeaks louder. Amity is already red from the idea. “Oh. Uh, no offense, Gus.” She gently places her hand over his. 

“None taken,” he chirps. He doesn’t really have any input on this conversation and he looks a little uncomfortable but he’s having a good time just listening while he munches away on his lunch.

“Are you  _ joking?”  _ Willow retches. 

“Not one bit. Come on, you don’t like Boscha even a little?” Luz whines. 

“Boscha dumped a trash can on top of me.” Willow’s head falls on the table and Gus, the ever supporting one, gently pats her hair. 

“It’s the perfect enemies to lovers story!” Luz’s eyes sparkle. 

Just then, Boscha walks by to dump her tray and she’s staring wistfully at Willow’s limp body. She blushes when she sees Luz beaming at her and looks away. Luz goes on about finding Gus a date, “So we could have a triple date!” To which he rejects. But Amity is still looking at Boscha. She’s got a note in her hand and she’s looking down at it with gentle eyes. She puts it back in her pocket and starts to make her way over to their table.

“H-hey, Willow.” She croaks nervously.

Willow’s head snaps up and her eyes are wide, staring pleadingly at her three friends. “Yes, Boscha?” 

“So- I was wondering if you wanted to play grudgeby with me and the team today- after school. If you want.” Boscha stammers and it takes everything in Amity not to laugh because she knows how it feels but it’s still so odd to see her like this. 

“But I’m not good at grudgeby,” Willow tries. “I’d just ruin the game. Trust me, you don’t want me to play grudgeby with you,” 

Boscha turns red, groaning impatiently. “You’re impossible!” She scoffs. “I doubt you have anything better to do anyways,” 

“She’s gonna be with us-“ Amity finally steps in and Willow deflates. “We’re all going to study together, after school.” Everyone’s looking at her questioningly. Boscha notices and raises an eyebrow at Amity. She makes a desperate little squeak and finally Gus saves the day. 

“Yep, we’ve all got  _ huge  _ tests coming up,” he smiles. 

“Was I talking to you?” She starts to stalk over to him but Willow speaks up. 

“Boscha, do you really think I’d go out with you even after you’ve been mean to my friends?” She turns to face toward her on the bench and crosses her arms. “What’s your problem with them?” 

Boscha doesn’t speak but instead turns extremely red. This whole situation is just an all around weird one. “Can I talk to you?  _ In private? _ ” 

“Later,” she narrows her eyes. “Now leave us alone.” 

Boscha groans but storms off, out of the cafeteria. Everyone sighs in relief and Willow drops her head back on the table (Gus goes back to petting her head). Then Amity looks over to Luz, who hasn’t said anything during the entire exchange. She’s got the entire galaxy in her eyes and she squeaks, “It’s the perfect  _ enemies to lovers story,” _ she grabs her face. “I ship it!”

* * *

Luz is walking Amity home when she slips her hand in hers, which isn’t really anything out of the ordinary, but it still gives Amity a pang in her chest every time it happens. 

She feels Amity stiffen and raises an eyebrow at her. “You don’t wanna hold hands?” 

“I  _ do, _ ” she says in a clipped voice. “It’s just still so new to me. And I can’t really handle it.” 

“Does your heart go  _ doki doki  _ so fast in your chest?” 

Amity’s face scrunches up in confusion and Luz gasps. “Right. The Boiling Isles doesn’t have anime,” 

“ _ Anime? _ ”

“Yeah! It’s…  _ so  _ hard to explain. Maybe we can watch one when you come over next time?” Luz asks. 

“Sure,” they stop because they're in front of the house now and Amity turns to face Luz. “Well. This is it.” 

Luz laughs, pulling her in by the waist. Amity stumbles a bit. “Hi.” 

“Hi,” Amity’s face heats up. They’re so close. “Can I have a kiss?” 

“Absolutely. But this time,  _ you  _ have to kiss  _ me. _ ” She smiles deviously and Amity squeaks, pushing away from her. 

“You know I can’t do that!” 

“But I  _ always  _ kiss you. You have to put some work into this relationship too, you know,” She says airily like that’s a sentence she thought she’d be saying. 

Amity covers her face and screams quietly into her hands before she looks at Luz again, who’s smiling stubbornly. “Fine.” 

She  _ was  _ going to do it but she couldn’t. She just couldn’t. So she ran to the door and hurriedly unlocked it. She looks at Luz who shrugs, still smug as ever. “Night, Ami,” 

“Wait,” she whimpers. She was going to show her- give her a piece of her mind and she was going to kiss her. She marched back up to Luz, her legs heavy as lead. 

“Hi, girlfriend,” she giggles. “Are you gonna do it this time?” 

“Yes, yes I am.” Amity said sternly. She was going to do this and she was going to do it right. She quickly leaned in and gave her only a small kiss before she had to pull away. She was already burnt out. 

“At least you tried.” Luz teased her as she walked back to the door. 

“Night, Luz!” 

“Night, Amity!” 

She quietly clicked the door shut, sighing. She let her head fall against it as her mind reeled about what exactly just happened when she hears her brother’s voice. 

“That was  _ so  _ cute!” He squeals girlishly. Amity whirls around and finds Ed, who has a bucket of popcorn, and Em standing there, grinning. 

“Yeah, way to go, Mittens!” Em cheers. Amity blushes. She really wishes they hadn’t seen that. 

“How much did you guys see?” She whispers. 

“Oh, we saw everything.” Ed confirms confidently, stuffing more popcorn in his face. 

“ _ Why  _ were you guys watching me?” Amity squeezes her eyes shut and hopes their reasoning is valid,  _ or else.  _

“Mother told us to, ‘go down to the school because you were nearly late for dinner!’” Ed mocks, putting on his best British accent. 

“I had ten minutes left! Me and Luz only took the long way so we could talk more,” Amity turns red. 

“That’s okay, Mittens, we get it. So it looks like things are going well between you two.” Em says. 

Amity completely ignores this and says, “ _ Don’t  _ tell mom or dad. Not a word.” 

“We got you covered, Mitts,” Ed winks. “So is she a good kisser?” 

Amity groans, pushing past them to go to her room.

“Maybe she’ll tell us another day,” Em pats his arm comfortingly as he cries. 

  
  
  



	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A peek into Amity’s harsh reality.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> despair by leo. This chapter is not canon to the fic.

_ Okay, get it together,  _ Amity pep talked herself because clearly she’s lost her cool and she’s not really sure how to act anymore and worst of all, she’s having trouble keeping her pride in tact because she can’t even control her stupid emotions.  _ Ugh, emotions.  _

  
  


_ It’s not romantic,  _ Amity swore to herself as she passed Luz in the halls, forcing herself to keep her eyes ahead of her. Clutching her books closer. Biting her tongue. “Hey Amity!” She waved, clueless as ever. 

Lunch was finishing up and Amity sat alone as per usual. But she saw Luz and her other friends leaving the cafeteria and her heart sank. She likes having her near, the little voice in the back of her mind saying,  _ go over there, go talk to her _ , ruthlessly nagging. Of course she never even dreamed of doing it, but it was comforting to know that she  _ could  _ if she wanted to. 

“Oh, sorry Amity,” she gave her a sympathetic look, stammering. “Here, let me help you with that.” She had accidentally ran into her and made Amity drop all of her books. Of course, Luz hadn’t even hit her hard enough to make her drop  _ anything _ . It was the unexpected contact that made Amity lose all her composure. “I can help you carry these to your next class,” she offered and grabbed Amity’s hand. Amity squeaked and quickly pulled her hand away.

_ It’s not love, _ Amity swore to herself as she was trying to fall asleep that night.

“ _ No _ , I don’t want you to teach me how to  _ dance!” _ Amity scowled, her hands clutched in Luz’s and their chests pressed together. Amity got lost, in her eyes.  _ How long has it been? Is it weird now? This is weird _ . “Get off of me,” Amity roughly pushes Luz away, dusting off her shirt. 

“Okay, my bad,” Luz laughs awkwardly, holding her hands up defensively. The next morning in class, Amity’s idly doodling Luz’s name with hearts around it in her notebook, not paying much attention to anything, really.  _ What’s her last name?  _ Amity thinks to herself even though she knows good well exactly what it is. She thinks,  _ Amity Noceda _ , just to see- and immediately turns red.  _ Luz Blight.  _

That night, she’s laying in bed, wide awake- except it’s pitch black in her room and it’s actually three AM on a school night and she’s thinking about Luz. Not sleeping, because of Luz. At least she’s aware of how stupid this is. Does that make it any better? 

She’s not sure if this whole love thing sounds  _ quite  _ right.  _ It’s not romantic,  _ Amity swore to herself when Luz said, “Oh, Amity, your shoe is untied!” and helps her tie her shoe. She’s gasping for air and she’s trying to be discreet about it but when Luz looks at her questioningly, she desperately wishes to drop dead in that moment. 

_ It might be closer to despair. _

“It’s not love,” Amity said out loud to herself one night as she sat alone in her room, trying to study. 

“I can help you if you want,” Luz offered because even though Amity treats her badly, she always offers. 

“No. I don’t want your help. I want you to leave me alone. Don’t ever come near me again,” Amity said, trying to sound cold and rude but really it came out sounding desperate. She needs Luz to just get away or she doesn’t know what she’ll end up saying. She’s burning this bridge but at least she won’t have to be in despair anymore. 

Luz’s eyes flashed with hurt. “Fine,” she backed away. Amity closed her eyes because she was about to cry. She didn’t react rationally under pressure. She immediately regretted it. She’s such a sweet girl and all Luz has ever done was be nice to Amity, no matter how many times she pushed her away, pushed her off. 


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Amity and Luz have a sleepover. They act really gay. It’s pretty gay not gonna lie.

Amity takes a deep breath before she knocks. This was fine, everything was fine. She has permission to be here and this is alright. It’s fine it’s fine it’s fine.

“Oh, hey kid,” the door flings open and Eda yawns, scratching her hip. She’s in her pajamas and her hair is everywhere. 

Amity stifles a laugh and nods politely, “Owl Lady,” 

“What do you want?” She eyes the small overnight bag slung over the young witches shoulder.

_ Uh. Didn’t Luz tell her?  _

_ “ _ Oh, uh, Luz and I are having a sleepover tonight. I uh, I thought she told you.” She chuckles nervously. Eda raises an eyebrow and thank goodness, Luz comes down the stairs, pulling her hoodie over her head. 

“Hey Ami!” She rushes for the door. “Come in, come in!” She shoves Eda over to the side to make room for a flustered Amity. 

“H-hey. Uh, I don’t think Eda wants me here,” she leans in to whisper to Luz.

“No, I think she just forgot. Come on!” She pulls her over to the kitchen area. As they pass by the couch, Amity spots her old mentor fast asleep on the couch. 

Eda joins them and ever so casually asks, “So, what’re you kids up to tonight?”

“Tonight is our sleepover, remember? I asked you yesterday and you said it was fine.” Luz says, rummaging in the cabinet for something. 

“Oh, right,” she says coolly. “Don’t stay up too late. I need you to help with the delivery tomorrow,” 

“Yes, ma’am!” Luz shuts the cabinet and after Eda walks away, she sets many bags and boxes of candy on the counter. “I brought snacks!” She says excitedly to Amity. “I didn’t know which ones you would like so I just got all of them.” 

Amity’s heart swells but she asks, “Where did you get all that?” 

Luz pauses before whispering, “I’ll tell you later.” They go up to her room and when she opens the door, the room is illuminated with many light glyphs. 

“Cool, right?” She asks smugly, dropping the snacks in the middle of the floor. 

“It isn’t anything I’ve never seen,” Amity waves it off, and Luz pouts sarcastically. Amity closes the door behind her. 

“So, what do you wanna do first?” Luz flops down on her sleeping bag. “How about I paint your nails?” 

“Sure,” Amity says. She doesn’t really mind what they do, she’s still getting over the fact that she’s in Luz Noceda’s room. She sits down in front of Luz, crossing her legs. 

Luz pulls her bag from under her pillow and it’s full of things that Amity’s sure are exclusive to the human world. She has two colors of nail polish, dark purple or yellow, which aren't necessarily exciting colors but she doesn’t mind because, wow, she’s having a sleepover with Luz. 

“Which color do you want?” Luz asks, reaching for a box of sour candies and popping one in her mouth. “Want one?” She offers her the box. 

“No thanks,” she says because her stomach was already in knots and she doesn’t know if anything would even go down. “Purple.” 

“Okay,” she says. Amity feels weird because Luz doesn’t really seem like herself. She starts to polish her nails and Amity wastes no time asking. 

“So, you never did tell me where you got all this stuff.” 

“Oh.” She stopped for a moment then quietly said, “I went back.” 

Amity knows right away what she’s talking about. “You did? Did you see your mom?” 

“No. I went while she was at work,” she mumbles. 

“Luz!” 

“What? She’s  _ looking  _ for me. My whole block has missing posters of me  _ everywhere _ ! If she found me, I’d never get to come back here. And I’m not ready to leave yet.” She looks away. 

“But... your mom is probably so worried about you.” 

“I left a note for her, don’t worry,” she says, as if that’s going to help her case. As if this is about Amity not worrying. 

She sighs because she really doesn’t want to get into this right now- on their perfect night. It was a big can of worms to open and Luz was getting anxious, Amity could tell with how fidgety she had become. She’s distant and trying to distract herself, focusing dutifully on still polishing Amity’s nails. “Luz.” She gently pulls her hand away and Luz pauses. Taking the brush and screwing it back on the small glass bottle, she stares at Luz expectantly.

Luz whimpers, tucking her hands under her legs and keeping her gaze to the floor. Amity thought she was being stern here but then she saw sad Luz and it made her want to shrivel up and die. If  _ anyone  _ ever put this look on her face she would personally end their existence-

Tears begin to stream down her face and her lip quivers. “Luz!” Amity gasps. She couldn’t anymore- she couldn’t stay away. So she didn’t. She crawled into her lap and pulled Luz in tightly to her- she’s sure she’s never had a more fulfilling hug. “Tell me what’s wrong.” 

“ _ Everything  _ is wrong!” Luz sniffles. “I’m not supposed to be here. I feel terrible about my mom but I can’t leave here when I’ve just built this amazing life. I can’t leave it. I can’t leave  _ you. _ ” 

Amity blinks and she thinks she’s stopped breathing for a moment after that. But Luz continues on, “I’ve just started to learn magic and I love Eda and King. They’re my family too,” she stops. “But I have to go back because I  _ can’t  _ do that to my mom.”

“Luz…” Amity is at a loss for words, she doesn’t know if anything she says will help. 

“I just… I don't know what to  _ do. _ ” Luz cries softly into Amity’s shoulder, pulling her as close as possible. Amity just does all she can think of and comfortingly strokes her hair. She could stay like this forever, no matter what the future had in mind. After a while, Luz sniffles and pulls away. She wipes her eyes and laughs awkwardly. “Gosh. I’m sorry. Just kind of lost it, there,” she looks away. 

“No. Don’t be sorry.” Amity lifts her chin and quite possibly for the first time, Luz turns red as she finally meets her eyes. If it wasn’t the cutest thing ever. If it weren’t for the context of the situation, Amity would kiss her right now. “ _ I’m _ sorry,” she says and now it’s her turn to blush. 

“For what?” Luz asks innocently. 

“Nothing,” Amity shakes her head. “It’s cute when you cry.” In her head, it sounded romantic but now that she’s said it out loud and now that she’s seeing Luz’s reaction, she realizes that maybe that wasn’t the right call. Amity’s eyes widen and she blinks. “I mean, not- not, like  _ that. _ ” 

Luz bursts out laughing and even though Amity feels like dying in a hole, she smiles because she’s glad to see her like this again. “You’re  _ terrible  _ at flirting!” She shrieks. 

“I know!” She groans, squeezing her eyes shut and covering her face. “I just shouldn’t talk. At all!” 

Luz only laughs harder and Amity is just really, really relieved. She looks so pretty when she laughs, like an angel, bright by her own light. Her face is still slightly tinged. But then she stops when she notices Amity’s staring at her again with wide eyes. “What?” 

“You’re just. Really pretty,” Amity says simply. 

“Me?” Luz waves her off. “Nah, I’ve seen prettier.”

“Oh yeah? Who?” Amity leans in. 

“You.” Luz raises an eyebrow. “Wait. Are you gonna kiss me?” 

Amity freezes. When you say it like that, as a sentence, it becomes so intimidating, so real. “Yeah. If that’s okay, I mean,” she stammers. 

“Yeah. Sure.” Luz turns red again but she doesn’t move otherwise.

“Um, okay.” Amity leans closer and she’s got step one completed. Their lips  _ are  _ in fact, touching. It's so soft, they're just barely brushing but she already feels antsy. This isn’t so bad, I could get used to this, is what she’s thinking when Luz pulls away to laugh. 

“Are you gonna… do the thing?” She wheezes. 

“What-! I was!” Amity crosses her arms. She’s so embarrassed now. Just when she was feeling good about herself, just when she’s got the confidence-

“Sorry,” she huffs between laughs. “I killed the mood didn’t I?” 

“Yeah! You did!” A little laugh escapes her because she just couldn’t help it. This  _ was  _ kind of funny. It was all a joke now, wasn’t it? If this was so funny to Luz, if she was laughing so hard and Amity got to see her on her back gasping for air, then it was all worth it. And she was in her room, and they were together, alone. Amity blushes at the thought. This moment was one of a kind. She kind of wants to kiss more. She’s thinking, how did I get here? With a human? She didn’t know but she never wants to leave. 

This won’t last forever. But it’s still fun to imagine. Amity lays down next to Luz, right there on her sleeping bag and they fall asleep like that. She dreams that night. She’s falling. First, she’s in her room, sitting at her desk doing homework and all of the sudden, the floor caves in and she falls, falls, falls for a long time. 

Then she lands in Luz’s arms. Then she slips out of her grasp and lands somewhere in a grass field, beside Luz. They’re staring up at the clouds when the dirt swallows her and she slams into a dark room in a bed. Her body feels old. She looks beside her and there she is. Her eyes widen and she lifts her hand to check and there’s a silver band there- but she’s falling through the bed before she can even process anything and she falls. It’s just darkness. 

  
  


The next day at school, Amity asks Luz, “Promise you won’t leave?” 

Luz blinks. Then a cloud passes over her and she grabs Amity’s hand. “Promise.” 

Everything’s good for a little while.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luz goes back. 😳😳😳 to her house

Luz was really dreading this moment. It was the perfect time for her to slip away. This is it. That morning at school, on the announcements board there was a big poster that was announcing school would be out for two weeks due to the acid-rain season. Everyone crowded around, whooping and cheering excitedly amongst each other. Luz was probably the only person who wasn’t happy. 

“Yes! Sleepovers every day for  _ two weeks _ !” Willow cheered. 

“I can finally work on my mystery thriller about a human who stumbled into a new world by accident!” Gus said and then he blushed when he noticed all eyes were on him, not in a good way. “It’s a work in progress!” 

Willow giggled, turning her attention to the distracted human beside her. “What about you, Luz?”

“Um, yeah! Whatever you guys want!” She smiled half heartedly. 

“What’s wrong? Missing Amity that bad? She’ll be here, you know.” Willow laughed, nudging Luz playfully. “She’s probably trying to get the perfect cat eye  _ just  _ for you,” she and Gus began to snicker quietly. 

“It’s not that. I mean, I do miss her. I just have a lot to think about. I’ll tell you guys later, okay?” Luz took Willow’s and Gus’s hand, smiling fondly. “I love you guys.” 

“Are you going to propose to Amity?” Gus gasped. 

“What? No.” Luz turned red. “Let’s talk later. We don’t wanna be late to class!” 

“Okay,” Willow narrowed her eyes because something wasn’t okay, she knew that. Luz perked up a bit after that and the day went on. Just about. 

Luz has somehow got it into her head that she has to leave now. It’s been about six months since she arrived to the Boiling Isles, but she knew things were getting pretty bad back on Earth. And she needed to go back.

As for acid rain season, it was the perfect time because school would be out and hopefully everyone would have forgotten about her by the time school started back and she could quietly slip away. 

She initially planned to leave without telling anyone because she couldn’t bare the thought of having to say goodbye to everyone. But that would be cruel, she wouldn’t want anyone to do that to her. She just had to come up with a way to let them down softly. 

“I think I’m going… to leave soon.” Luz said and- yes she likes to think that was the softest let down ever. Amity walked her back home this time. The sun was setting and Amity was just getting over her nerves- at least enough to give Luz a quick peck on the cheek. 

There wasn’t really anything to be said. There wasn’t anything Amity could say- had the right to say. She couldn’t tell Luz,  _ no _ ,  _ don’t go.  _

So she said, “Okay.” And wrapped her in a hug. 

“ _ Okay? _ That was… easy.” Luz said and Amity would be laughing if she didn’t hear a pinch of disappointment in her voice. 

“You want me to beg?” Amity asked playfully. “Luz, please, please don’t leave. I’ll kidnap you and keep you here forever!” 

“That would’ve been nice,” she mumbled. “This is really tough for me, Ami. I would stay here forever if it was up to me but I have to at least let my mom know that I’m okay.” 

“Okay.” Was all she said but really it’s because if she tries to say anything else she’s going to cry. 

“But I promise I’m coming back. One day. Then I’ll propose to you, Amity. Would you like that?” Luz gently patted her head. 

“You’re just saying that,” she stammers into Luz’s shoulder. “You couldn’t marry someone like me.” 

“Watch me, señorita,” she says and Amity’s heart skipped a beat. That was the moment she decided that she’ll try and learn to speak Spanish. 

“Okay,” Amity pulls away. “I’ll hold you to it.” 

“ _ Si,”  _ Luz giggles a little and starts to head to the door, quietly thanking the heavens that Hooty is asleep. “I’ll see you later. Also, don’t say anything to Willow or Gus about this, okay?” 

“I won’t,” Amity says hesitantly.

* * *

“WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?” Willow screeches, tackling Luz and it takes everything in her to keep her balance. 

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Gus tried to sound stern but it’s just really cute and squeaky like a squirrel. 

Luz finds Amity standing nearby and she winces, her ears dropping when they make eye contact. Luz forgives her already. 

“Guys! I’ll explain everything to you at lunch, okay?” 

And lunch couldn’t come fast enough. Willow and Gus bickered with Amity about who gets to sit next to Luz and eventually she just opted to sit on the bench opposite them, Willow and Gus get to sit on either side of her. 

“Ah,” Willow teases as she slid in her seat. “Thanks for warming my seat for me, Amity,” 

“No problem,” she said, sticking her tongue out for good measure. It was all in good fun though, they were playing. 

“ _ Dios mio,”  _ Luz shakes her head, giggling. 

“Oh! My goodness. It is very warm,” came Gus’s remark from Luz’s right side. 

“I never even sat on that side!” Amity blushed. 

They were settling in, talking amongst themselves when Boscha came by their table, her tray in her hands. “Hey, human,” she stammered, “I heard you’re leaving, like, forever,” 

Luz glances to Amity who shrugs, then to Willow, who is red in the face. 

“I’m gonna miss you too, Boscha,” Luz says, stifling a laugh. 

“Yeah,” she scoffs. “Whatever.” She starts to head to her table when Willow stops her. 

“Wait-! Boscha?” 

Boscha turns red in two seconds flat. “Yeah?” 

“Would… you like to sit with us?” She looks to her friends for approval but they’re all just staring with wide eyes. 

“Hm,” she pretends to decipher the question, “Sure, but only because someone already took my seat.” 

“Okay?” Willow blushes a little as she takes a seat next to her. 

“Um. This is weird.” Gus says after a deafening silence. 

“Very,” Luz agrees. 

“What-! Fine. I’ll leave if you guys really hate me that bad!” Boscha scoffs, already starting to clean up her tray. 

“No! It’s fine, you can stay. They’re all just a little nervous around you, which is understandable,” Willow says. “Remember? I promised you could sit with us today.” 

“You what?” Amity did a double take, choking on her sweet tea. 

Boscha groaned, taking her tray and storming off. Willow gave her friends the  _ dirtiest  _ glare and ran after her. 

“Yikes.” Luz said quietly. 

* * *

A quick trip to the library turned into a long trip to the library. It’s Friday and the two week break started that weekend and that means Luz is leaving the next day. The library is empty for the most part. There isn’t anyone around campus because the sky is forecast and everyone’s scared. Amity says it doesn’t matter to her because she wants to feel the rain. She wonders what it feels like. Does it burn slowly through each layer of skin? Does it only burn for a quick second? 

And then they got rained in, together. The protective barriers were cast out around the campus and Luz and Amity were stuck together, like always. Luz looks for  _ Good Witch Azura _ books, stacking each installment in her arms until it hits under her chin and she can’t possibly carry any more books. But she's done it anyway, defying all odds just like she always does. 

There’s two on top of her head somehow perfectly balanced. Amity stares from her spot on the floor as she does her homework, watches as she steadily walks to a table and sets them all down. They’re both silent for some reason. Neither of them really have much to say.

Luz walks over to offer Amity a hand. She takes it and stands up. “Why are you sitting on the floor when there’s so many tables you could sit at?” 

“I dunno.” Amity looks away, and she thinks about how she does know why. It’s because she feels angsty right now. Something’s got her feeling like that, and it’s definitely not because Luz is leaving tomorrow. Maybe it’s the rain. 

“You should come to the table with me.” She smiles and Amity wants to cry.  _ If that's what you want, I’ll come to the table with you. Anywhere you want.  _

“How can you act like everything is just… fine?” Amity crosses her arms and avoids eye contact. “How can you just read  _ Good Witch Azura  _ when you’re leaving us tomorrow?”

“Amity, I don’t have a choice.” She sighs. “I’m trying not to think about it. I’m trying to stay positive for you.” 

“But you do have a choice!” Amity says. “You’re choosing to go!” 

“I’m choosing to go because I love my mom and I know how worried she gets. I know she thinks I’m dead by now,” Luz laughs a little on the last part. “Once I get back, she’ll probably ground me for six months and never let me do anything by myself again.” 

“Then  _ don’t go _ .” 

Luz is about to say something but she thinks better of it. She gently pulls her in for a hug and Amity lets her, even though she’s somehow twisted Luz into the bad guy in her head. She feels kind of betrayed. Why did Luz even bother with Amity if she was just going to leave anyways? 

“I’m coming back,” she says gently into her green hair. “Remember?” 

“No, you’re not.” She says bitterly. Luz freezes. 

“Why not?” 

“Because you’ll go off and forget about us. You’ll forget any of this even happened, and then you’ll find someone else. You’ll make new friends and you won’t ever come back to me.” Amity says and Luz is kind of shocked, how she’s got all of this so intricately planned out in her head. 

“How could I  _ ever  _ forget about this?” Luz asked incredulously, more to herself. “This has been the  _ best  _ few months of my life. I don’t think that will be happening any time soon,” 

“You won’t love me anymore.” Amity says it like it’s a fact, like it’s already happened. Luz pulls away and sees she has a stream of tears going down her cheeks. She wipes them away and cups Amity’s face. She doesn’t want to look her in the eyes or this’ll all be real. 

“ _ Ay ay ay,  _ Amity,” 

“You don’t  _ know _ the future!” Amity bites back a sob. 

“And neither do you,” Luz swipes her thumb to wipe away more tears as they stream down like waterfalls. It’s heartbreaking. 

“So?” Amity asks. 

“So, I’m saying I love you and I could never forget about you,” Luz says. 

“Can we kiss?” Amity asks and Luz blinks. She just did a huge 180 but she really can’t stand it anymore, she wants to be mad but she can’t. 

“ _ Okay, _ ” Luz says slowly like she’s confused. She slowly leans in and the kiss is just soft as if to say  _ I’m here. It’s okay _ . Amity kind of wants to giggle now, the good feelings fill her up and her head is tingling, all feelings of anger melt away and Amity tries to kiss back. 

Luz pulls away and looks at her like,  _ is that better? _ And no, it’s not better. “Could you give me another kiss?” She asks and Luz is quick to oblige even though she is still very much confused. 

“Another,” she says when Luz pulls back again. “Another,” and, “Another,” and, “Another,” until she finally has to ask. 

“How many more do you want me to give you?” 

“At least… enough so I don’t miss you as much when you’re gone.” 

Luz looks away, ashamed. Amity is not going to let her live this down, is she? “I’ll kiss you as much as you like, would that make you happy?” 

“No, but it’ll help.” 

Luz leans in again and Amity’s eyes flutter closed. They kiss, kiss, kiss, until Luz is convinced she’s kissed the problem away and Amity starts to believe it too. 

* * *

Luz walks through her neighborhood, it’s familiar and the same as when she left it, she realizes that the earth kept turning even without her here. There’s her missing poster nailed here on a tree and there on the power line and they flutter in the wind. 

When she comes up the steps to her house, there’s her missing poster there on the front door too. She knows that when she knocks it won’t be how she’s imagined it for all these months. But she sucks it up and does it anyway. Shortly after, the door swings open and there’s her mom in her nightcap and pajamas. 

“ _ Mija?” _

_ “Holà, mami,”  _ Luz chuckles nervously. 


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luz gets grounded. Emira tries to cheer Amity up.

Amity’s got herself in quite the dilemma- and she’s aware of it. _This’ll all pass,_ she thinks, _it was just a minor obstacle to try and trick me._ That’s what life is about. You get over it and you move on. She glances at her clock. 2AM. 

_Step one -,_ she writes on a sticky note, _get over her._

_Get over ~~her~~ it._

Okay, so she’s got a plan. Plans are good and easy to follow. She may only have one step but it’s still a plan. 

For the first week, she was just sort of in shock. Just not all there. She was convinced that maybe it was all a dream- a major misunderstanding of some sort. Like it was just a distraction from the bigger picture. She had to look at the bigger picture here. _She was only a small part of it. No, she was never a part of it._

Some kids teased her at school, mocking her and asking, _oh, where’s your other half?_

And it wasn’t until a few weeks later when she realized she _liked_ the feeling. The feeling of being constantly distracted, being constantly tortured by an indirect source. Being constantly confused over an individual. It gave her something to fret over, something to think about on her otherwise listless days. 

Willow and Gus tried to talk to her. They tried to stay connected but they drifted apart too. 

_Step two -,_ she wrote a couple nights later, _find something else._

She really thought hard about this one, what was she trying to find? A new hobby, maybe. A new person to fall in love with. A new thing to do. She had to come up with something. She had to broaden her horizons. Otherwise, she’d spend all her time thinking about her. It. 

If she said it like that, like it wasn’t a real thing, she’d have an easier time with this. 

Many weeks later, Amity’s come to the conclusion that it must’ve all been a trick- a test from the emperor’s coven. It had to be. It must’ve been. Maybe her whole family was in on it. Maybe they were seeing her eligibility- how she’d react to that certain situation. It wasn’t that far fetched, right? 

  
  


* * *

Well, this wasn’t how Luz imagined it’d go. It was three in the morning- she totally planned to come through the portal at a decent, humane hour but goodbye was harder than she’d anticipated. Especially since Amity hadn’t come. 

_She probably hates me,_ is what Luz is thinking when her mom pulls her out of her head. “ _Mija_?!” 

“Yes, mama?” She’s quick and attentive because she really doesn’t know how her mom is feeling about all this just yet. She’s mostly in shock. Luz sits on the couch as Camila paces across the living room floor, murmuring to herself. Eventually she sat down at the table and made calls to the family to let them know she’d found Luz. 

“Are you okay? Are you even _you_? Am I talking to a ghost? Oh, _dios_ _mio_ , am I dreaming again?” She puts her face in her hands and groans. Luz sighs and moves to sit across from her mom at the table. 

“I’m fine, mama,” she reaches across to hold her hand, offering a gentle smile. “It’s me.”

“Should I even ask where you’ve been?” She takes off her glasses to wipe her eyes. 

“Not tonight, probably,” Luz laughs a little, looking away. 

Camila gives her daughter a confused glare. “ _How_ …” She struggles for the words. “ _How_ have you stayed healthy after so many months?” 

Luz goes into panic mode. There’s no way she could even try to explain the Boiling Isles to her mom now, at this hour, while she’s so tired. She hardly understood it herself. She thought about making something up. Someone at camp kidnapped her but treated her good. A Beauty and the Beast type situation. _No, that doesn’t make sense in real life,_ she shakes her head and Camila raises an eyebrow. 

“I was kidnapped, _mami_. But they kept me safe.” She said calmly. 

Her mother’s expression contorts to that of one as if she’s just seen a ghost. “ _Que_?!” 

“Ah, _mami_ , I’m so tired. Can’t I explain everything to you in the morning?” Luz starts to head to her room but her mom stops her and pulls her into a hug. 

“No, no, _Mija_. If it’s too traumatic for you, you don’t have to tell me,” she says into her hair. 

That would be the easy way out. Why is everything going so well for her right now? What bad thing is about to happen? “No, _mami_ , you deserve to know.” She wrapped her arms around her and returned the hug, happy to finally be back in her mother’s embrace. She didn’t realize how much she missed this. This was nice. 

_Well, that was weirdly easy,_ she thinks to herself as she walks up to her room and- when she opens the door, she pauses. She was half expecting it to be her old room. Her bare walls, a lone sleeping bag on the floor. But this _was_ her old room. She forgot that she had an actual bed. An actual room. All of her posters and books and figurines. _Wow._

She flopped on her bed, not pulling down the sheets or even bothering to change her clothes, the ones she’s been wearing for months. She lay there in the dark, staring up at the ceiling, in shock. Was it finally over? Was she really back? Was any of that real? Had her mom really let her off the hook so easily?

What just happened? 

Luz started to feel delirious. Was she dreaming? Did something weird happen? Had she fallen and hit her head? Was she in a coma? What, what, what?

She fell asleep thinking, what is happening? She didn’t have King to cuddle with, Eda hadn’t come to wish her a good night. She wasn’t going to Hexside in the morning. _Hexside_. _School. Crap! I’m gonna have to go back to regular school!_

She was _really_ regretting her decision on coming back. 

In the morning, she came downstairs and her mom had cooked a big breakfast. “What’s all this for, _mami_?” Luz asked suspiciously, wiping the sleep from her eyes as she took a seat at the table. 

“I made a bunch of food so you’ll have enough to eat while you tell me what happened,” she explained oh so casually and Luz’s stomach immediately sank. She forgot about that. 

“I don’t think I can eat anything while I tell you,” she said. She didn’t know if she’d be able to stomach any human food for a while. She’d gotten so used to the Boiling Isles’s cuisine.

After one bite of toast, Luz felt it already trying to come up. 

So, Luz started to try and explain. The keyword was _try_. If she was in her mom’s position, she wouldn’t believe herself either. The first thing Camila said at the mention of magic, witches and monsters was, “You did _drugs_?!” 

Luz blinked. Maybe she should just go with that one. It would be easier to explain than anything else. “No. _Mami_ , what I’m saying is real. You have to believe me!” 

* * *

_Step twenty one -,_ she wrote one month later on a pink sticky note. _Just stop trying to make a plan!_

She stuck it on her desk and tried to turn her attention back to her homework. But it was one of _those_ nights. Things weren’t going according to plan. She was supposed to be over it by now. 

But the moon was fuller tonight. It seemed closer, Amity thought she could probably touch it. It reminded her of grom night. And well, grom night wasn’t really… it wasn’t something she wanted to be reminded of. So she tried moving her desk to face away from her window. It didn’t help much. 

_This is stupid!_ She groaned to herself. _Dumb. Dumb. Dumb._

_Click_. 

Amity turned to see who had entered her room. She specifically asked everyone to _not_ come into her room. It was Emira, all by herself. She came over to her desk, setting a glass of water in front of Amity. 

“Need anything?” She asked, petting Amity’s head gently. She wasn’t used to her older sister being like this. Gentle. Not annoying for once. Still, it was a little unsettling and you could tell Em was a little uncomfortable too, but at least she was making an effort. Amity flinched a little, unsure of how to react to the touch. 

“No. Thanks.” 

“Okay,” she said simply. But she didn’t leave. Amity knows why. “Everything okay?” 

“Yeah. I’m fine. Now get out of here so I can study.”

“You are _not_ fine.” Em said, like it was the most obvious thing ever. Maybe it was. She knelt down beside Amity, examining the pink sticky note stuck to the side of the desk. “Twenty one steps, _already_?” 

“It helps me to write them down,” Amity’s face reddens. 

“Well, if you ask me, you should heed your own advice. Stop trying to make a list for _everything_. You don’t get over these things in ‘five easy steps’, you know.” She laughed. 

“That’s why there’s twenty-one.” 

“You are _terrible_ , Mittens.” Em laughs again, taking the sticky note and crumpling it up in her hand. “You know, we can’t help you if you don’t let us.” She goes to open the window and tosses it out. 

“I don’t need help. I’m alright.” Amity pretends to scribble down answers on her test. 

“ _Alright_? You never say that.” She crosses her arms. “Now I really know something’s up.”

_Ugh, why am I so predictable?_ Amity sighs. She walks over to the window and leans on the sill. 

“Anything you wanna talk about?” Emira asks gently. 

“See the moon?” Amity asks suddenly. Em tilts her head, nodding. “It’s full. Just like it was at grom.” 

“Oh?” Em blinks. “ _Oh_.” 

“And it’s in the way and I can’t focus but I can’t escape it!” She groans, turning away. 

“Hey, hey. It’s okay.” Em pulls Amity into a hug. “There’s an easy solution to your problem,” stifling a laugh, she says, “Just close your curtain.” 

Amity pulls away and glares at her older sister. “You don’t think I tried that?!” 

“So what happened?” 

“It didn’t work.” She said vaguely, sitting back down at her desk. Em was quiet for a moment as she thought of something to tell her younger sister. She just wanted to help. 

“Why don’t we go see it?” 

Amity gives her a cold glare, crossing her arms. “I can see it fine from here, Emira. Why would I go outside to see it?” 

  
  


Em giggles. “Trust me. Get your jacket on and meet me out there in ten minutes and I’ll show you.” With that, she rushed out of the room, leaving Amity’s unspoken question unanswered. She glances to the unorganized pile of papers in her desk. She’d been working on this test for a few hours, a little break wouldn’t hurt anyone. She quickly got into her thick jacket, boots and earmuffs. Winter was well underway and it was starting to get very cold- this particular night, it even snowed a little. 

Em offered her hand and Amity hesitantly took it. They walked down their long front yard in silence. The moonlight was so bright now. “See? It’s not so bad from here, right?” 

Yes, it was. It was _worse_. This didn’t help. “Um…” 

But Em insisted. “Just look at it. The moon is beautiful, Mittens. It’s not here to hurt you. It’s here to light up the night, so you’re not left in the dark.” 

Amity turned her attention back to the big floating rock in the sky. The one that had disturbed her all night. It was definitely a mysterious thing, among the mysteries of everything else. It was beautiful in its own right. And Em was right. Without the moon, it’d be so dark. 

Other than that, the moon didn’t really have anything else going for it. Not to Amity.

“It’s… alright.” She said, just to give her sister the satisfaction. At least she had tried something. At least she cared. Amity smiled gently. 

She hated the moon. 

* * *

Luz was grounded for six months. 

Nine, when it was revealed that Luz stayed away purposefully. One week extra for coming back just to get things but never bothering to let her mom know that she was okay. 

Well, at least one day she’d get to go back. Then she’d tell Amity she’s sorry. 


End file.
